Special Edition Connecting Cities @ China

The Connecting Cities Network starts to collaborate with China and will present CCN projects in the framework of the Guangzhou International Festival of Lights 2015, the Asia Arts Festival in Quanzhou and at the Beijing Contemporary Art Center and the Chinese Pavillion at the 56th Venice Art Biennale.
Connecting Cities China is managed by Marc Piesbergen and curated by Susa Pop, director of Public Art Lab. Many thanks to the festival organisers Guangzhou Ruifeng Culture & Communication Company and the Beijing Contemporary Art Foundation and the participating artists who will be presented in the following.

 

GUANGZHOU INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS 2015

The Guangzhou International Festival of Lights is organised by Ruifeng Culture for the 5th time and takes place every year presenting more than 50 lightworks at the cities iconic Huacheng Square.

Control No Control by Danial Iregui / Iregular
16-29 November 2015 // 7-10pm

CONTROL NO CONTROL by Daniel Iregui / Iregular is an interactive LED sculpture which will be set up opposite to the Canton Tower during the Guangzhou Festival of Lights. For 9 nights the audience is invited to use their hands and body to interact with the sound and graphics of the LED sculpture. The full cycle of audio-graphical compositions passes five stages, each exploring a geometric pattern, its properties, its audio representation and how it reacts to bodily gestures.

Peoples Screen by Paul Sermon & Charlotte Gould
15-29 November 2015 // from 7pm / 7.30pm

During the Guangzhou International Festival of Lights the citizens of Guangzhou and Perth will meet and interact on a public screen in the networked live scenario Peoples Screen by Paul Sermon and Charlotte Gould for the first time.
Every night from 7pm / 7.30pm the huge screen at the Flower Garden in Guanghzou and the Northbridge Piazza Screen in Perth will be transformed into a realtime platform for intercultural exchange.

 

ASIA ARTS FESTIVAL @ QUANZHOU

The 14th Asia Arts Festival is curated and organized by the City of Quanzhou and the Beijing Contemporary Art Foundation and this year takes place at at a former industrial power plant. One highlight of the opening ceremony with guests from all over China and artists from over the world will be the interactive G-Frame presentation by Berlin based artist collective The Constitute.

G-Frame by The Constitute
7-8 November 2015 // 7-8pm & 7-10pm

The G-frame is a drawing frame that enables users to draw, sketch and write gesturally on urban facades. It is connected to a projector. An integrated tablet allows the selection of stroke style and colours. The audience can write comments, try themselves out or simply draw or sketch something to be seen large scale on the facade.

 

CHINESE PAVILLION @ VENICE ART BIENNALE & BEIJING CONTEMPORARY ART CENTER

Saving Face by Karen Lancel & Hermen Maat
18-22 November 2015 @ BCAC New Media Window Project 2015-2016 at the Chinese Pavillion / Venice Biennale

Saving Face by Karen Lancel and Hermen Maat  is the Finissage Event  of the Chinese Pavillion curated by  Cui Qiao, Founder and director of the new Beijing Contemporary Art Center.
Saving Face is a performance where your face becomes a tangible social interface. The ritual includes an interactive city sculpture with a camera connected to an urban screen and integrated face-recognition technologies. By caressing your face you ‘paint’ your portrait on the screen, where it appears and then slowly merges with the portraits of previous visitors. Each composed portrait identity is saved into a user generated database, to be printed as a Saving Face Passport.